In Career Mode, what is the progression of Planetary Transfers??

[themonk]

Starting at Day One, what is the order that the planetary transfers come in. I can look up each individual transfer and see how long it will take to show up. but it would be nice to know the order of the transfers for planning purposes.

Please excuse my english... its my native language, but Im Southern.

themonk

[Mr. Scruffy]

I only know, that the first window for Duna opens around day 200.

[mhoram]

Kerbal Alarm Clock has a functionality to display the next transfer window to all planets.

http://alexmoon.github.io/ksp/ is a website that can calculate them too.

[Sharpy]

Kerbal Alarm Clock has a functionality to display the next transfer window to all planets.

http://alexmoon.github.io/ksp/ is a website that can calculate them too.

Open "Show Advanced Settings", then set "Last Departure" to year 10 or so.

They are a cyclic thing though the cycle varies with cycle between the planets. For Moho it's some 120 days. For Jool and Eloo they are one Kerbin year roughly, with Eloo's transfers obviously worse near its apoapsis and far from ascending/descending node. For Dres it's every 1 year and 100 days. Actually Duna and Eve are the worst as their cycles are similar to Kerbin, with transfers every 2.25, and 1.5 years respectively.

[regex]

Duna comes up on day 59 or 69, somewhere in there. I generally go there first and plan interplanetary from that point.

[Feradose]

You start around an Eve transfer window.

I believe its "supposed" to be Eve before Duna.

[Tarmenius]

Remember that windows only represent times when the transfer can be done with minimal fuel costs, and as such they have no hard "start date" and "end date." But, according to the alexmoon launch window planner (linked above by mhoram), the order is as follows (in Kerbin time):

Duna: Year 1 Day 216

Moho: Year 1 Day 253

Dres: Year 1 Day 340

Eve: Year 2 Day 117

Jool: Year 2 Day 230

Eeloo: Year 2 Day 250

These "windows" usually last several days (in a couple cases more than a week), so launching on exactly the listed days isn't really necessary.

[regex]

Duna: Year 1 Day 216

I see day 233 Kerbin time, day 59 Earth time, are you adjusting to the earliest time or something?

[Aethon]

Since I play career, it takes me a few days to build interplanetary technology, so my first window always comes on (Earth) day 21, hour 17, when Kerbin crosses Mohos' Ascending Node. The LKO - Moho dv cost (including Moho injection) is under 5km/sec.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Aethon

[Wjolcz]

KAC has everything you need to know.

I always send probes first to as many planets and moons as possible. Just to do some scouting (although I've been there before career mode was a thing). Then I send some sort of an outpost, and once that's set up I send crew to connect everything and gather science.

Basically, I go unmanned: whenever there's an opportunity to do so.

Go manned (Mun -> Minmus -> Duna -> Laythe): When there's a base set on the surface already.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Veeltch

[Tarmenius]

I see day 233 Kerbin time, day 59 Earth time, are you adjusting to the earliest time or something?

Yeah, the earliest edge of the dark-blue area. I probably should have adjusted all of them similarly, but oh well... The windows are pretty wide anyway.

[cantab]

Going of Alexmoon's website. All dates in Kerbin time.

(Eve: Y1 D1) - This transfer is far from ideal but still doable.

Moho: Y1 D39

Jool: Y1 D196

Duna: Y1 D231

Eeloo: Y1 D242

Dres: Y1 D390

Eve: Y2 D151

As you can see there's something of a cluster in the third quarter of the first year, and unless you go there pretty much right at the start you will have to wait the longest before launching your Eve mission.

[Geschosskopf]

Starting at Day One, what is the order that the planetary transfers come in?

As mentioned, Kerbal Alarm Clock can show you. Click "Add", then select the icon that looks like a window. On that tab, make sure to set the origin as Kerbin (it defaults to Moho), then hit the "create all" button. Voila:

Of coruse, you should completely ignore ALL Moho windows. Either go there via a gravity braking pass off Eve (so use the Eve window) or launch when Kerbin is lined up with the nodes of Moho's orbit and Moho's Ap is on the far side of the sun from Kerbin.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Geschosskopf

[problemecium]

It'd be nice if the progression of the storyline missions in Career mode matched the order of transfer windows :\

[regex]

It'd be nice if the progression of the storyline missions in Career mode matched the order of transfer windows :\

It'd be nice if the progression actually worked... :\

[Awaras]

On that note, do you guys do a single mission at a time from start to finish or do you launch multiple missions? I always feel bad if I don't take advantage of a transfer window coming up, but then I end up with 3-4 missions active at the same time, having to switch between them to perform course corrections/insertions/landings/whatever and inevitably the kraken starts popping up his head.

[AndyMt]

On that note, do you guys do a single mission at a time from start to finish or do you launch multiple missions? I always feel bad if I don't take advantage of a transfer window coming up, but then I end up with 3-4 missions active at the same time, having to switch between them to perform course corrections/insertions/landings/whatever and inevitably the kraken starts popping up his head.

I did that, too during my first career play... went horribly wrong because of... lack of multi-tasking abilities (I'm male ). So since then I do a maximum of 2 in parallel. Sometimes helping a poor Kerbal out of LKO orbit in between.

This way stress levels stay low... this should be entertainment and fun.

[Superfluous J]

I usually have several (or several dozen) missions running at a time. I too hate to see a transfer window pass. I have found (like you) that that seems to just invite bugs. So when I finish my current career's objectives I'm tailoring the next one to a more one-mission-at-a-time approach. That's really what the game is designed around, anyway. This whole "manage a space program" stuff is really - and sadly - not something the stock game was made to handle. It's only through the use of mods that we can effectively even run a multi-mission program and when we do, things start to go wrong.

[mdkendall]

The transfer windows from Kerbin to other planets (excluding Moho) for the first ten years are:

[TABLE=width: 256]

[TR]

[TD]Year[/TD]

[TD]Day[/TD]

[TD]Origin[/TD]

[TD]Target[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]1[/TD]

[TD=align: right]193[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Jool[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]1[/TD]

[TD=align: right]232[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eeloo[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]1[/TD]

[TD=align: right]236[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Duna[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]1[/TD]

[TD=align: right]389[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Dres[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]2[/TD]

[TD=align: right]122[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eve[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]2[/TD]

[TD=align: right]235[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Jool[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]2[/TD]

[TD=align: right]249[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eeloo[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]3[/TD]

[TD=align: right]118[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Dres[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]3[/TD]

[TD=align: right]268[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eeloo[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]3[/TD]

[TD=align: right]273[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Jool[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]3[/TD]

[TD=align: right]309[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Duna[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]3[/TD]

[TD=align: right]381[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eve[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]4[/TD]

[TD=align: right]224[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Dres[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]4[/TD]

[TD=align: right]292[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eeloo[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]4[/TD]

[TD=align: right]310[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Jool[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]5[/TD]

[TD=align: right]202[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eve[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]5[/TD]

[TD=align: right]291[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Dres[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]5[/TD]

[TD=align: right]321[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eeloo[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]5[/TD]

[TD=align: right]345[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Jool[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]5[/TD]

[TD=align: right]364[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Duna[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]6[/TD]

[TD=align: right]361[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eeloo[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]6[/TD]

[TD=align: right]368[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Dres[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]6[/TD]

[TD=align: right]382[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Jool[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]7[/TD]

[TD=align: right]36[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eve[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]7[/TD]

[TD=align: right]409[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Duna[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]7[/TD]

[TD=align: right]417[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eeloo[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]7[/TD]

[TD=align: right]421[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Jool[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]8[/TD]

[TD=align: right]84[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Dres[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]8[/TD]

[TD=align: right]287[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eve[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]9[/TD]

[TD=align: right]37[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Jool[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]9[/TD]

[TD=align: right]55[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eeloo[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]9[/TD]

[TD=align: right]209[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Dres[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]10[/TD]

[TD=align: right]27[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Duna[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]10[/TD]

[TD=align: right]83[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Jool[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]10[/TD]

[TD=align: right]98[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eeloo[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]10[/TD]

[TD=align: right]114[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Eve[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: right]10[/TD]

[TD=align: right]278[/TD]

[TD]Kerbin[/TD]

[TD]Dres[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

These dates are the centers of the windows; you can clearly go a little later or earlier at the expense of more delta-v.

[Sharpy]

On that note, do you guys do a single mission at a time from start to finish or do you launch multiple missions? I always feel bad if I don't take advantage of a transfer window coming up, but then I end up with 3-4 missions active at the same time, having to switch between them to perform course corrections/insertions/landings/whatever and inevitably the kraken starts popping up his head.

Instead of aiming at the precise launch window, I just go with something roughly bluish in the graph; it's rarely more than 500m/s more than optimal and if I don't have 500m/s to spare the mission is in danger anyway. So, for most planets, my launch window is far more than a couple weeks every few years.

DunaMission will launch on its optimal window only because it's been stalled by a number of other factors. Otherwise it would have been a month en route already.

[More Boosters]

I usually have several (or several dozen) missions running at a time. I too hate to see a transfer window pass. I have found (like you) that that seems to just invite bugs. So when I finish my current career's objectives I'm tailoring the next one to a more one-mission-at-a-time approach. That's really what the game is designed around, anyway. This whole "manage a space program" stuff is really - and sadly - not something the stock game was made to handle. It's only through the use of mods that we can effectively even run a multi-mission program and when we do, things start to go wrong.

I've been getting the NaN kraken far more often since I downloaded Kerbal Alarm Clock, good thing I quicksave a lot.

[Streetwind]

Going of Alexmoon's website. All dates in Kerbin time.

(Eve: Y1 D1) - This transfer is far from ideal but still doable.

Moho: Y1 D39

Jool: Y1 D196

Duna: Y1 D231

Eeloo: Y1 D242

Dres: Y1 D390

Eve: Y2 D151

This matches my experience in every career game I have ever played. I don't know how some people get Duna or Jool first... Moho is always first. And because of its tight, fast orbit, it constantly reoccurs, too. You can go to Moho almost every couple dozen days. Eve, meanwhile, is in the most awful position possible at the start of the game and takes forever to come around. I've never actually flown to Eve inside a transfer window, I just always say "screw it, this is the cheapest and second fastest interplanetary transfer in the game, I'll just brute force it". You could aerobrake out of the transfer in the past, so coming at a really inconvenient angle and speed was no issue. Nowadays, I might reconsider

In terms of "difficulty progression", that is dV costs to reach, it goes like this:

- Eve and Duna cost little more to reach than Minmus, only orbit and return is more costly

- Dres and Moho cost a moderate amount extra to reach, due to the plane change (but Moho costs a lot more to actually orbit and land on)

- Jool costs a fair amount extra to reach, and quite a bit to orbit if you don't make use of gravity assists and aerobraking at the moons

- Eeloo costs the most to reach, but not the most to orbit/land on

- The most expensive transfer to target low orbit is technically the sun or Jool, but you have little reason to be in low orbit there. For practical destinations, the most expensive is Moho. The most expensive to land on is Tylo (with Moho following closely). The most expensive to return from a landing is Eve by a wide margin.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Streetwind

[Geschosskopf]

On that note, do you guys do a single mission at a time from start to finish or do you launch multiple missions? I always feel bad if I don't take advantage of a transfer window coming up, but then I end up with 3-4 missions active at the same time, having to switch between them to perform course corrections/insertions/landings/whatever and inevitably the kraken starts popping up his head.

The Kraken comes by no matter what you do. The game's got memory leaks that will kill you eventually.

I used to be totally OCD about windows and would never let one go unused. But then career mode came along and that 1st Jool window got a bit impractical, and others get impacted by the cash required. So nowadays I mostly follow where the contracts lead. If I get a contract to do something at another planet, I use that window, not only for the contract ship(s) but also anything actually useful I want to do there for my own entertainment, provided I can still turn a decent profit on the contract(s).

Doing things this way, I still end up with multiple missions going on simultaneously at different planets, just like in the old days. Only now it's not as organized as it used to be